BAGHDAD, 26 July 2005 — The Iraqi capital was hit by twin suicide car bombs yesterday that killed at least eight people as Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a top US ally in Iraq, made a surprise visit to Baghdad.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Sunni Arab representatives and parliamentary leaders announced a deal had been reached on ending a Sunni Arab boycott of talks on drafting a post-Saddam Hussein constitution. Sunni leaders said they would likely announce an end to the boycott at a meeting today.

The boycott was called in the wake of Tuesday’s murder of two of their representatives on the constitutional committee and Sunnis had demanded, among other things, better protection for their representatives and a full inquiry into the killings. The latest bombings came less than less than 24 hours after a massive truck blew up outside a police station in the capital on Sunday.

Yesterday’s first bombing targeted the Al-Sadeer Hotel in central Baghdad which is used by foreign security personnel, an Interior Ministry official said.

Most of the six killed and 16 wounded were local security guards working at the hotel which has been bombed before.

Just over two hours later, another car bomb targeted a police commando patrol under the Harithiyah Bridge in the west of the city, killing two policemen and wounding 11.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister John Howard arrived on an unannounced visit to Baghdad. Howard pledged that his country’s soldiers will remain in Iraq as long as the government needs them.

Sunni Arabs representatives and the office of Parliament speaker Hajim Al-Hasani separately announced an agreement on meeting Sunni conditions for a return to talks on drafting the constitution.

“All our demands were accepted,” Salim Abdallah, a member of the Sunni-based Islamic Party, told AFP.

Hasani’s office confirmed the deal, saying Tuesday’s murders “will be subject to an independent investigation, involving Sunnis”.

“A meeting of all Sunni factions will be held this morning to decide on a response, but I think that given the official statement by parliamentary Speaker Hasani there will be agreement on our immediate return” to the constitutional panel.

Their boycott had threatened to derail efforts to reach a deal on the constitution in time for Parliament to vote on the draft by Aug. 15, a deadline agreed to earlier this year. The charter is due to be put to a national referendum on Oct. 15.

Sunni Arabs, who make up about a fifth of the population, dominated Saddam Hussein’s regime and all previous Iraqi governments, but are under-represented in Parliament because much of the community boycotted the January elections. The parliamentary constitution committee, which originally included just two Sunnis MPs, brought in an addition 15 Sunni members from outside Parliament to give the disgruntled former elite a say in drawing up the new basic law.

In other developments, two people have been arrested in connection with last week’s abduction of two Algerian diplomats in Baghdad, an Iraqi intelligence officer said.

Armed gunmen seized Algeria’s Charge d’ Affaires Ali Belaroussi and his colleague Ezzedin Ben Kadi as they were leaving their embassy by car Thursday. Loyalists of Al-Qaeda’s Iraq frontman, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for their abduction.

The Iraqi Special Tribunal responsible for investigating war crimes allegations against Saddam’s regime released video footage yesterday showing the interrogation of six of his top henchmen. They included two half-brothers of the ousted president — Watban and Barzan Ibrahim Al-Hassan — and a cousin — Ali Hassan Al-Majid, better known as “Chemical Ali” for his alleged role in the gassing of thousands of Kurdish civilians in 1988.

They also included former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, the head of Saddam’s office, Ahmad Hussein Khudhair Al-Samarrai, and the former leader of the ruling Baath party in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, Sameer Abd Al-Aziz Al-Najeem.

In Stockholm, a Swedish justice official said yesterday Sweden will not host a possible trial of Saddam nor allow him to serve a possible sentence in the Scandinavian country.

Justice Ministry Director Ann Marie Bolin Pennegard confirmed that a member of the former leader’s defense team, Giovanni Di Stefano, had contacted Swedish authorities over the issue of holding a trial against Saddam in Sweden.